Birthday Traditions 2
by Kate McCaye
Summary: Sequel, or second part of "Birthday Traditions" series. Jack throws a birthday party. Sort of SJ.
1. Twin Nerves

A/N: This is a sequel to another story called -gasp, shock!- Birthday Traditions. I've decided to do one per year. If you haven't read that one, you might be a little confused. I've got plans for each year, they're all going to be quite different from each other.

Birthday Traditions 2

Ch. 1: Twin Nerves

Sam Carter had to admit, she hadn't looked forward to her birthday this much since she was a little kid. The rational part of her brain (which she imagined never stepped out of uniform) insisted the reasons for this were simple: she loved her job, the people she worked with were family, one of the best friends she could ever imagine having shared her birthday with her, and over the past year she and the rest of SG1 had done some pretty important planet-saving things.

The other part of her brain, the part that got far too much pleasure out of watching Harrison Ford movies in her pajamas with Cassie and Janet, kept reminding her that the person single-handedly responsible for renewing her interest in birthdays was none other than her CO, Colonel Jack O'Neill, who, one year ago today, had thrown an extravagant party for Daniel and her, that had culminated on the roof in a pretty spectacular "birthday kiss" that she'd had recurring dreams about for the rest of the year.

On top of that, they had all-but signed a contract that this birthday, and any and all to follow, were going to end exactly the same way. This information was very comforting and exciting, of course, but at the moment she was wishing she could go back a year, when she hadn't been expecting anything and had been taken completely by surprise. Because now she had been standing in her closet for half an hour, trying to figure out what on earth to wear.

There were going to be more people around to help distract her from thinking solely about the end of the party (she hoped). Cassie and Janet were coming, and the Colonel had invited General Hammond as well, saying he was welcome to bring his granddaughters so Cassie would have someone to play with. Nobody knew if the General would be able to come or not, but Carter and Daniel had figured out how he'd been invited in the first place: it had happened while her CO had been trying to contact her father through the Tok'ra, to see if he could be there or not.

It had been almost two months since he and his new symbiote had said goodbye, and neither had been heard from since, although as Daniel kept telling her, no news was good news. Still, it would be nice to hear from her dad on her birthday.

She sighed and got back to the task at hand: picking out something to wear. The problem was, she didn't spend a lot of time off-base, so when she did, her clothes generally fell into one of two categories: super-casual bumming around the house clothes she felt slightly awkward running to the grocery store in, and clothes that might come off as too girly, like she was trying to impress her CO. And whether she was or wasn't was irrelevant: it was only important that she not _appear _to be doing so.

She debated calling Janet to find out what she was wearing but decided that would open the door to too much interrogation/teasing as to why she couldn't seem to get dressed by herself tonight. Getting frustrated as she realized she would soon be late to her own birthday party, she grabbed a pair of black slacks decisively. Those were always okay, right? There, halfway done, she congratulated herself as she pulled them on.

She quickly scanned various blouses, tops, and sweaters for the seventeenth time and finally decided to just go with her favorite. The night was probably going to be uncomfortable enough without her minding what she was wearing, maybe the super-soft cashmere v-neck she had had forever would put her somewhat at ease. She pulled it on, checked herself in the mirror, and frowned. Black bra, baby blue top. Well, _that _wouldn't do. Janet would never let her live that down. She quickly changed her bra, smoothed her hair back down, and started searching for her shoes.

She had agreed to pick up Daniel for a number of reasons. First, it would mean fewer cars parked outside her CO's. Second, if Daniel had about half a beer he would most certainly need a ride home, if they all didn't end up staying at the Colonel's as they had last year. Third, for some reason, it had been very important to Colonel O'Neill that "the birthday boy and girl arrive together."

She was regretting all of these reasons at the moment, because she had been waiting in Daniel's living room for him for fifteen minutes.

"Daniel, you better have pants on because I'm coming in there to get you!" She finally called, one second before barging into his bedroom.

He was apparently having a similar problem getting dressed, as his open closet was nearly empty and its entire contents were spread out on his bed. "Sorry, Sam, I'm almost ready. I just - do you think wearing a tie is too much?"

He had on khaki slacks and an undershirt and was holding up a button-down shirt to himself with a hideous tie draped over his shoulder. "Well, whatever you do, I wouldn't wear _that _one," she said honestly, pulling it off of him and adding it to the pile on his bed. "Daniel, last year you ended up in jeans and a gray undershirt with two bows stuck to your chest as breasts. I don't think a tie is necessary."

"No, I know, I just thought..."

"You know Teal'c and the Colonel won't be all dressed up... why don't you just wear that shirt?"

He frowned at it. "It 's so... boring, don't you think? I don't want to look boring..."

Something in his eyes clicked in Sam's brain. "It's Janet," she said quietly.

Daniel froze and stared at her blankly. "What? What are you talking about?"

"Oh come on - who else would you be dressing up for? Certainly not me, or Teal'c, or the Colonel, or Cassie... that leaves only our dear Dr. Fraiser."

"Sam, it's not what you think. I just think she's really nice and..."

"Don't worry, Daniel, you can wipe that look of blind panic off your face. I'm not going to say anything, I just - never noticed before. Now I feel like I should have."

"Now you know how I felt," Daniel muttered, fussing with the shirt he had pulled on.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked, moving behind him to smooth out the shoulders for him.

"You and Jack," Daniel said casually, as if it was something they discussed every day. "It never occurred to me there was - anything - between you guys until I went to that alternate reality where you were engaged - and _that _Jack was an even bigger stubborn ass than ours is, by the way, but once the idea had been suggested to me I felt like an idiot for not seeing it before."

"Maybe," Sam said slowly after she had convinced her brain and mouth to work together again. "You _should_ wear a tie, so I'll have something handy to strangle you with."

"What?" Daniel asked defensively. "It's not like I'm going to say anything. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, I just -was surprised when you brought up Janet, is all."

"I know. Can we go now? The shirt is right. You're ready."

"Are you sure?"

She smiled at him affectionately. It was impossible to describe how almost instantly Daniel had felt like he'd been her brother her whole life. "I'm sure," she assured him. "You look great."

"So do you," he said suddenly, flashing her a grin as he sat down to put his shoes on. "Sorry I didn't say anything when you got here."

"You were preoccupied," she said with a shrug.

"Yeah. Well, let's go, birthday girl," he said, standing up with a big grin on his face.

She returned the smile and said, "After you, birthday boy."

---

More to come, once I get time to transfer from my handy-dandy notebook to Marshall (my computer's name.)


	2. Cake

Ch 2: Cake

Somehow, the fact that Daniel was nervous calmed Sam down considerably. She figured it was because she knew, mostly, what the night had in store for her. Plus, Daniel couldn't drink worth crap, so he was probably concerned about the combination of being drunk and around Janet. Whatever the reason, she was perfectly calm as she rang her CO's doorbell.

Jack O'Neill opened the door, but Cassie was bouncing around in front of him, super-excited. "Sam, happy birthday!" she shrieked, throwing herself at Sam. Sam caught her awkwardly in a hug, setting her down and smiling at her.

"Thanks, Cassie. You look pretty."

Cassie looked down at her purple dress and frowned. "I hate this dress, it's so babyish. Mom made me wear it. I told her any twelve year old would rather die than be seen in it. She said it was a good thing there wouldn't be any more twelve years olds here tonight. Hi, Daniel, happy birthday!" she gave him a quick hug and continued talking to Sam at about a hundred miles per hour. "You look really pretty too, Sam. I like your sweater. Jack, she looks pretty, don't you think?"

Hoping it was too dark on the porch to see her blush, she avoided his eyes as he said, "Um, yeah. A bit frozen though, Cass. Move out of the way and let them in already." He steered her out of the doorway and Sam and Daniel stepped inside.

Cassie ran off to go find her mom. As Sam and Daniel took off their coats, Daniel asked, "What did you _give _that kid, Jack? Is she drunk?"

"I bet she could handle more than you, Danny-boy. But no. She's just excited. And she's had a lot of soda."

"Ah, that explains it," Sam commented as Cassie met them in the living room, dragging Teal'c behind her. Aside from the comical sight of the largest, toughest man Sam knew allowing himself to be led around by a little girl, Teal'c made her burst into laughter as she took in his outfit: the man was wearing a huge lime-green sweater with Bart Simpson on. It was the most hideous thing she had ever seen, and she had no doubt as to who had given it to him.

Apparently he'd been following her blatant stare, because her CO leaned in and quietly said, "Don't worry, yours has Lisa on it." She looked at him, horrified, and he winked. She rolled her eyes and had to fight back a laugh and a punch to his arm.

"Major Carter, Daniel Jackson, happy birthday," Teal'c said, smiling at them both.

"Thanks, Teal'c," they both said.

"Now that they are here, O'Neill, may we begin eating?"

"Yeah, go on in." Teal'c nodded to all of them and headed to the kitchen. "He's ah, hungry," Jack explained. "Wait, you can't go in yet, you're not ready. You forgot your hats!" he insisted as both Sam and Daniel started to follow Teal'c and Cassie into the kitchen.

He quickly handed them both the hats he had made them wear last year. Well, Daniel's was a hat. A bright blue, sequined, glittery top hat. And Sam's was a tiara.

"You're not wearing a hat," she pointed out as she reluctantly set the thing on her head. He immediately frowned and stepped closer to her and began adjusting the tiara, which apparently wasn't straight. She hoped he didn't notice her sharp intake of breath. For a crazy half-second, she had thought, when he had stepped so close to her, he had been about to give her her birthday kiss right in front of Daniel.

"Teal'c and Janet wouldn't put them on," he was explaining. Huh? Oh, yeah, the party hats. "They will for the cake and presents though, or else. Besides, this isn't a kids' party anyway, it's a regular party."

"Aww, no musical chairs?" Daniel pretended to whine.

"As I recall, Spacemonkey, you were defeated in that game by a chair itself. You ended up on the floor."

And as I recall, Sam thought, I ended up in your lap.

She was grateful when Cassie called, "Come on, hurry up!"

"Such a nice, calm child," Jack said sarcastically, herding them to the kitchen.

He hadn't ordered pizza this time. He'd cooked a wide variety of food outside on his grill. Sam spotted Janet's crock-pot and knew it contained her friend's famous queso. Speaking of Janet, she was still nowhere to be found.

"Where's your mom?" Sam asked Cassie as she followed Daniel to grab a plate and start grabbing food.

"She's in Jack's office on her phone. Something about work."

"Sergeant Siler has injured himself again," Teal'c explained.

"Is he okay?" Sam asked in concern.

"Yes, he is," Janet answered as she entered the room pocketing her phone.

She hugged Sam and said, "Happy birthday."

"Thanks, Janet."

She turned to Daniel and hugged him as well, oblivious to the fact that he immediately tensed up and blushed. "Happy birthday, Daniel."

"Uh, thanks," he finally managed.

Sam gave him a sympathetic smile and whispered, "Breathe," after Janet had gone to check if Cassie had washed her hands.

As they ate, Jack took delight in filling in Janet and Cassie on some of the highlights from last year's party. The Fraiser girls were both laughing hysterically, especially when Jack described their "terribly off-key and out of sync interpretation of 'I'm a Little Teapot.'"

"Oh, man," Janet said, wiping her eyes with her napkin. "I wish I could see that!"

"That can be arranged, Dr. Fraiser," Teal'c said calmly. "I documented the evening on film, for posterity."

Janet and Cassie immediately began a campaign to watch the tape, and Sam and Daniel immediately began demanding the opposite.

They all had such a good time during dinner that Sam had forgotten all about the thing that was making her nervous, until Jack and Teal'c began clearing away the table for cake, waving off offers of assistance. Jack made everyone put the paper cone hats on, turned off the lights, lit a bunch of sparklers on each cake, and he and Teal'c set the two cakes down in front of Sam and Daniel.

Like last year, hers said 'Happy Birthday Sam" while Daniel's read "Happy Birthday Danny," but this time they were decorated identically, both done as the solar system. Everyone sang, Jack and Cassie adding loud choruses of "Happy Birthday to you, you live in a zoo, you smell like a monkey, and you look like one too!"

They blew out their candles, and in the few seconds of dark it took Jack to find the light switch, Sam thought about the childish wish she had just made: That her dad was there. By the time the lights came back on, she was grinning again, and promising Cassie she could eat Mars.

Aside from the design, the cakes were exactly the same as they year before, which was wonderful, as it was the best cake any of them had ever tasted, but was also a dangerous thing because as she bit into it, she couldn't help but remember that the last time she'd tasted it had been on her Commanding Officer's tongue. Not an unpleasant memory, by any means, but a bit inappropriate to be thinking about in front of the CO in question, as well as her friends and her goddaughter.

"It's the same as last year!" Daniel exclaimed happily next to her.

Jack nodded and said, "I have fond memories of this cake."

Sam's eyes instantly shot to his and he smiled at her and took a huge bite of cake. Blushing like mad, she mumbled something about needing another soda and hurried into the kitchen.

---


	3. Aw

A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this one typed up, guys. I've got a wicked flu bug and have spent the past week in bed or on the couch in my jammies, surrounded by Kleenex. I'm almost better now, and so far I've resisted the urge to do astory where someone gets sick and someone else has to take care of them, so points for that, right?

Ch 3: Aw

After everyone had eaten as much cake as possible, Cassie squealed, "Presents now, right!"

"What are you so excited about?" Daniel teased her. "It's not _your _birthday!"

"I know, but I can't wait for..."

"Cassie!" Jack said sharply, as Teal'c said, "Cassandra Fraiser."

Janet merely gave her daughter a stern look that, on Cassie, was more effective than Jack and Teal'c combined.

"Now, now, let the child finish," Sam said, putting an arm around Cassie and steering her away from everyone else. "What were you going to say, sweetie?"

"Nothing!" Cassie insisted.

Everyone gathered in the living room. Daniel and Sam were steered to the couch. They sat down next to each other as everyone piled up their gifts in front of them both on the coffee table.

"Okay, Daniel goes first," Jack instructed.

"Why?" Sam demanded.

He shrugged. "My house, my rules."

Daniel grinned triumphantly and picked up the first gift, sticking his tongue out at Sam. She rolled her eyes as he took forever, deliberately unwrapping the first gift as slowly as possible. "From Cassie," he read the tag aloud. She had painted him a picture.

In each corner of the paper were pyramids, Roman looking temples and sphinxes. In the middle was a giant spaceship hovering over the globe. "Guess this one's going up in the office rather than at home," he said with a grin. Cassie nodded.

"Mom makes me paint that kind of stuff at home. Like anybody would believe it was real." Everyone laughed. Daniel hugged her.

"It's wonderful, Cassie. Thank you so much."

"You're welcome."

"I want to see my picture now!" Sam insisted, already tearing into her gift from Cassie. "Wow, Cassie, this is perfect!" she said appreciatively as she studied the picture. It was all of SG1, plus Janet, Cassie, and her dog as well, all standing in front of an active Stargate.

"I did one with your guns and a bunch of dead Goa'ulds, but Mom said it was too gross to give you."

Jack laughed heartily at that. Janet frowned at him. He pretended not to notice.

Next, Daniel opened Jack's gift, which turned out to be one of those hand-held electronic chess games. "That's so you've got something better to do at night when we're off-world than tell us boring historical facts."

"Hey, I only tell Sam and Teal'c my boring - er, my historical facts!"

"Yeah, well, as you haven't mastered the art of telepathic communication yet, the rest of us still have to suffer. Anyway, this way you might stand a chance at beating me, if you practice enough."

"As I recall, I won last time we..."

"Carter, come on get a move on with those presents!" Jack barked suddenly, shoving the next one into her hands.

"Yes, sir!" she snapped while everyone laughed. It was from Janet, a big assortment of bath products from Lush, their favorite store.

"Since you ignore me when I tell you to go home and relax, I thought this would help you out."

"Thanks, Janet," Sam said, leaning over and hugging her friend around the neck.

"Wait a minute, when you tell me to relax you threaten me with a huge honkin needle, when you want her to relax you give her bubble bath? What's up with that?"

"Sorry, Colonel," Janet deadpanned. "I'll be sure to get you bubble bath for your birthday was well." She smiled sweetly while everyone else laughed.

"That's not exactly what I meant," he grumbled. "Come on, Danny, open that big one."

"That one's from Janet, Cassie, me, and Teal'c," Sam explained. "We all came up with the idea together."

He unwrapped it; it was a new sound system for his car. "Teal'c and I both agreed riding in silence in your car is boring," Cassie told him.

"But we knew you'd never bother to get your speakers fixed," Sam added. "Anyway, this one is really good, and don't worry. I'll install it for you myself."

"Wow, thanks, guys. This is great!" He hugged them all and placed a thin gift in Sam's lap. "Sam, open mine now!"

It was a subscription to a really obscure cosmology journal she'd been having trouble finding. She grinned from ear to ear, threw her arms around Daniel, and kissed him on the cheek.

"Wow, nobody else on the planet has ever been that excited about that magazine," Jack declared with certainty.

Daniel picked up his last gift, which was from Teal'c. "I thought you gave me the stereo..." Daniel said as he turned the oddly-shaped package over in his hands carefully.

"Indeed. However, like Cassandra Fraiser, I have constructed something for you as well."

"You made this?" Daniel asked incredulously as he opened the gift. It was dark, hard wood of some kind, ornately decorated with intricate symbols carved into it. It looked sort of like Teal'c's staff weapon, but it was only about eighteen inches long. "Teal'c, this is amazing," Daniel said.

"It is a warrior stick, Daniel Jackson. On Chulak, it is customary when a man has become prolific in battle for his father or an older relative or family member to create a warrior stick in the new warrior's name, and present it to him. Normally the ceremony involves a ritual song and naked dance, however, I chose to simply wrap the gift instead."

"Thank God for that!" Jack said loudly, clapping Teal'c on the back.

Daniel, who had no idea Teal'c considered him valuable in the field as more than a translator, was overwhelmed. He hugged Teal'c for a long time and said, "Thank you," with the kind of sincerity only Daniel could convey.

"Major Carter," Teal'c said as he handed her a box. "I have purchased your gift. You never doubted your own abilities as a warrior."

She smiled, opened the box, and froze. It was filled with... cat toys. Tons and tons of cat toys. Odd. Maybe Teal'c got a little confused... not wanting to hurt his feelings, she smiled sweetly and said, "Thank you."

He returned the smile with the look that meant 'I know something you don't know' and said, "I purchased your gift while shopping with O'Neill."

Sam looked around for her CO to explain what was going on but he wasn't even in the room. Cassie, though, looked like she was about to pee her pants.

Jack came back in, muttering, "Leave the bow on for two seconds, forcryinoutloud!" As he got closer, Sam saw that his hands were cupped around a tiny black kitten with a red bow round its neck. He held it to his chest protectively. "She won't be still!" he complained. "I was going to put her in a box!"

Sam was already grinning hugely and reaching for the little thing. "She's so tiny!" she exclaimed as he handed her over. The kitten inspected her and started rubbing her hand with its head. "She's adorable! Thank you!"

"Teal'c and I helped pick her out yesterday," Cassie said, sitting down next to Sam so she could play with the tiny kitten, who had the bluest eyes ever. They stood out brilliantly against the deep black fur. "What are you going to name her?" Cassie asked eagerly.

"I don't know," she said, handing the cat to Cassie so she could get up and hug Jack. "Thank you so much, sir, she's perfect, I love her!"

She could tell he was embarrassed, for some reason he never wanted to look thoughtful. At the moment she was too excited and impressed to care. As she took the cat back from Cassie, amazed at how tiny her little paws and tail were, the doorbell rang.

"Who on earth..." her CO muttered, going to his front door. He opened it and said loudly, "General, sir! Nice to see you! No emergencies on base, I hope."

"No, Jack, I just stopped by to say happy birthday to Captain Carter and Dr. Jackson, and deliver a message from Captain Carter's father."

"My dad!" Sam said quickly, holding the kitten close to her body and running to the door. "You spoke to my dad?"

"Yes, I did, and... is that a cat?" Hammond asked.

Jack looked at the kitten, which was threatening to pull Sam's sweater with its tiny claws, and pulled it off of her with one hand, holding up and examining it closely. "By George, this is a cat!" he exclaimed in a shocked tone of voice. "It was supposed to be a pony!"

Sam laughed while General Hammond took a deep breath and shook his head, chuckling slightly. "Come in, sorry, sir," Jack said suddenly, stepping aside to let him in. "Would you like a piece of cake or something to drink?"

"Oh, no thanks, I have to get back to the base in a few minutes..." He chuckled. Jack's attention was divided between the kitten that was mewling loudly, trying to escape from his hands.

"And this is why I prefer dogs," he commented, passing her back to Sam.

"Yes, I agree," Hammond said as they all headed into the living room. "Although that is one cute little kitten."

Everyone greeted Hammond, who took the seat Jack offered him and said Happy Birthday to both Sam and Daniel. He couldn't help laughing at them. They looked at each other, confused, and shrugged. Hammond caught this and said, "I was just considering adding your... headgear to the standard uniform at the SGC."

Sam and Daniel remembered what they were wearing on their heads as everyone laughed thoroughly at the General's joke. Sam blushed and moved to take the tiara off but the General waved a hand dismissively and gestured to the cat again. "So, what's its name?"

"Sam hasn't named her yet," Cassie put in.

"No doubt it'll be something geeky like Einstein or naqadah, or... quarks," Jack added. Everyone laughed.

"Well, I didn't want to show up empty handed, so I brought you each a bottle of wine," Hammond said, setting a tall gift bag down on the coffee table.

"Oh, thank you, sir, you didn't need to do that," Sam said appreciatively as she and Daniel accepted their gifts.

"Just don't drink it on the base and I'll be happy," Hammond said with a chuckle. "Captain Carter, your father made radio contact about an hour ago, we recorded a message for you and Lieutenant Simmons put it on this disc for you," he said, handing her a disc.

She had to blink back tears, but she did it successfully. "Thank you so much, sir."

"Glad I could get it to you, Captain. Now, as much as I'd like to stay and visit with you all, I have to get back to the base. See you all on Monday."

Everyone said goodbye to him. Jack, Sam, and Daniel walked him to the door.

When he was gone, Jack closed the door and turned to Sam. Before she could ask, he said, "CD player's in my room."

"Thank you, sir," she said quickly, hurrying off down the hall with the disc in her hand.

-


	4. Fun

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, everybody. I really appreciate the 'Get Well' wishes, that was so sweet, and it really helped give me a kick in the pants to get back over to the computer and type up some more of this thing. Oh, and DragonMouse, I think you'll be pleased. I'm not really a cat person, but my oldest niece (who is probably the only six year old on the planet to name a kitten Quarks) got a kitten for Christmas that was just so funny I had to put her in this story when I was trying to figure out what Jack's gift should be. To clear up a bit of confusion, this is Season 2. Sam gave Schroedinger to Narim in Season 1. He does come back in Season 3, but I'm going on the assumption that was just a visit. Anyway, enjoy.

Ch 4: Fun

Sam quickly located her CO's CD player, which was on his night stand. Sitting down on the edge of his bed, she popped the disc into the device and turned it on.

Her dad's voice filled the silence. "Happy Birthday, Sam, it's your Dad. Well, you knew that already. I'm sorry I can't be there with you today, kid, but I've got this great new job..." Sam smiled, subconsciously pulling the nearest pillow into her lap and hugging it tightly. "All right, you're probably rolling your eyes right now. Selmak is. And you were right about sitting around cracking myself up, by the way. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you Happy Birthday. Oh, and tell Daniel for me too, would ya? I hear you're having a party. Have fun, Sammy. I love ya kid. See you soon."

As soon as it stopped, she played it back again, curling up in a ball, perched on the edge of the bed. As it ended for a second time, she bit her lip and quickly pressed Play once more. When it ended this time, she sat quietly for a few minutes, thinking about past birthdays. He'd missed a few over the years, it couldn't be helped. But he'd also been there for a lot of them as well.

A soft knock on the door brought her back to the present. "Come on in, Daniel," she said softly.

He peeked in, smiling apologetically. "Sorry. Just wanted to make sure you're doing okay."

"It's okay. Come in."

"How's you know it was me?" he asked, coming in and shutting the door softly.

"Your knock is unique," she said with a fond smile.

"Jack and Cassie are fighting over names for your kitten. You might want to christen her before they do."

"Thanks," she said with a smile. "Dad said to tell you 'Happy Birthday.'"

"He did?" Daniel asked in obvious surprise.

"Yeah. He really likes you - even last year when we had dinner with him and he didn't know what we do."

"Really? Wow."

Suddenly Sam felt guilt and sympathy wash over her in such a sudden wave that she had to bite back tears. She was a grown woman feeling sorry for herself because her dad was off serving as a liaison between Earth and a potentially powerful ally, and Daniel hadn't had parents to wish him a happy birthday since he was eight.

"Um, Sam, this could be a personal question," Daniel said suddenly, sitting down next to her on the edge of the bed. "But have you fallen in love with Jack's pillow or something?"

She gave him her Daniel's-being-deliberately-strange look and then looked down, only just noticing that she was hugging the object in question to her. "It's something I used to do," she explained absently, setting it back in its place somewhat reluctantly.

"You okay?" Daniel asked quietly, squeezing her shoulder.

"Yeah. Come on, let's go name my new cat," she said with renewed enthusiasm, hugging him quickly before getting to her feet. "Hey, you don't have any shoes on," she commented as she smoothed her sweater.

"Took 'em off. Cassie did it first," he said in defense.

Sam debated for a minute, then figured she was the birthday girl, she could do what she wanted. She slipped out of her own shoes and followed Daniel back into the living room.

"Good, you're back!" Cassie said eagerly, standing up off the floor, where she was entertaining the kitten with one of the toys from Teal'c's collection. "What's her name going to be?"

Sam took the kitten, cuddling her. She had known as soon as he had said it that it was the perfect name for something so cute and tiny... but she also knew he'd be pretty damn amused and smug about it.

"Quarks," she said decisively with a smile.

Janet and Cassie rolled their eyes. Teal'c raised an eyebrow. Daniel coughed discreetly into his hand. Jack shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked on his heels.

It should be illegal to look that pleased with yourself, Sam thought. But she was unable to keep from returning his easy grin. Not only had the man restored her interest in birthday celebrations, he'd made sure her dad contacted her and had given her the cutest little kitten she'd ever seen. And to top it all off, he was going to kiss her later.

"It's getting late," Janet commented, taking Sam's attention away from her CO. Cassie immediately started objecting to the idea of going home, as did Jack and Daniel, but Janet put her hands on her hips and said firmly, "Cassie, you have swim practice at 8 am."

"Oh. Yeah."

"But you'll miss the adult part of the party," Jack objected. "You guys can sleep here. In the guest room. Clean sheets on the bed, I knew that at least the science kids would need a place to crash."

"Hey!" Daniel and Sam objected at the same time.

Jack gave them a look and they both sighed. He was right. "Jan, please stay," Sam asked, knowing she wouldn't be refused on her birthday.

"Well... okay," Janet agreed. "But Cassie, you have to go to bed now, with no complaints."

"Okay," Cassie grumbled.

"Ah, Janet, my overnight bag's in my car," Sam offered, figuring her friend hadn't come as prepared as she was, and also knowing Janet wasn't as comfortable with the men of SG1 as she was.

"Thanks," Janet said gratefully.

While Janet went to get the bag, Jack went to get more beer for everyone. Cassie said goodnight to everyone. Sam hugged the little girl and passed the cat to her. "I think it's past her bedtime too, why don't you keep her company tonight?"

"Really? Thanks!"

"You keep that thing in her basket! She's tricky!" Jack insisted firmly.

"What do you mean?" Cassie asked.

"She gets into EVERYTHING," he said dramatically. "I had to put her in a laundry basket last night to get some sleep. It's not safe for her to be roaming around in the dark."

"I'll put her in the basket," Cassie promised, obviously taking her job as cat-watcher very seriously.

Janet steered her up the stairs and by the time she rejoined them, Sam and Daniel were once again fighting Jack and Teal'c over rights to the video from the previous year's party.

"So, what exactly does the 'adult' part of the party entail?" Janet asked warily.

"Last year it involved blue jell-o shots and a game of truth or dare," Sam informed her with a grin at the memories.

"Yeah, but General Hammond doesn't like being called in the middle of the night by drunk subordinates," Jack added, bringing in a bunch of beer and a bowl of chips.

"Hm, is it too late to back out of this?" Janet asked with a laugh.

"Yes," everyone in the room answered.

"Besides, we're not doing that this year. We're playing poker!" Jack declared, disappearing into a hall closet.

Sam grinned automatically. They were all going down.

"Teal'c, do you know how to play poker?" Daniel asked.

"Colonel O'Neill provided instructions in preparation for tonight's events," Teal'c answered evenly, taking a sip from his giant glass of lemonade.

"Daniel, do you know how to play?"

"Ah, kind of... not really."

"It's been a while for me too," Janet said sympathetically.

He smiled warmly at her. Sam rolled her eyes.

Jack came back in with a big case, set it down on the table, and opened it up. She raised an eyebrow. "Clay chips, Colonel? You're really into poker, I take it."

"Yeah, I've got game," he said, starting to divide up the chips. He passed her a stack, smirking. He obviously thought he was going to beat her.

She calmly made two small stacks and shuffled the chips expertly with one hand, still meeting his gaze calmly. His mouth actually dropped open in surprise and he stared, frozen. Well, this was certainly interesting.

"Uh, Jack, are you okay?" Daniel finally asked, making them both jump slightly.

"Yeah. Everyone know how to play?" he asked in an extra-loud voice. Sam blushed and started dividing up the chips.

The poker game was a lot of fun. It had been a while since Sam had played, but that didn't really matter, as Janet and Daniel were both abysmal. Teal'c was very good, as he had the best poker face Sam figured she was ever likely to stumble across, but he didn't have the whole betting part of the game down solid yet. Her biggest competition was, predictably, Jack.

Skill-wise, she figured they were about equal, so it was all down to who happened to get better cards. The planets were aligned in her favor, apparently, since it was her birthday after all, because she was kicking ass. Daniel and Janet, who were both quite drunk despite the fact that they'd had no more than four beers between them, seemed to have created their own little side-game, and were, as far as Sam could tell, in a competition to see who could play the worst.

"Um, Sam, what should I do?" Daniel asked as he looked at his cards and studied the cards in the middle of the table. They were playing Texas Hold'em, Sam's absolute favorite game.

"I don't know, Daniel," she replied, amused. His top hat was sitting lopsided on his head, and he looked so happy and cute she wanted to pinch his cheek. "That depends on what cards you have."

"Here, look at 'em," he said, leaning into her shoulder and showing her his cards. She glanced down. Six of diamonds, two of clubs.

"Fold," she said firmly.

"Aww," he mumbled, tossing his cards down on the table. Instead of retreating to his own space around the table, he leaned into her more, yawning loudly and rubbing his cheek into her shoulder. "This sweater is really, really soft," he commented.

Sam rolled her eyes. "Thanks, Daniel. Maybe it's time for you to switch back to lemonade," she suggested, patting his cheek. He laughed much too enthusiastically at that. His hat fell off his head, and he didn't even seem to notice. She had to laugh at that.

"Carter!" Jack barked from across the table. "You're holding up the game, bet!"

She looked over at him with her brow furrowed. Grumpy all of a sudden, huh. He glared at Daniel as well and said, "And showing your cards to the woman with all the chips is the worst strategy I've ever heard of, Spacemonkey."

OH! He didn't like Daniel's head being on her shoulder, she realized suddenly, and couldn't help laughing at how ridiculous that was. Daniel was like a baby brother, after all.

"I'll see you, sir, and raise you twenty," she said, feigning ignorance as to the cause of Jack's irritation as she tossed her chips into the pot.

"Sam, why are you raising with a four and a Jack?" Daniel asked loudly.

Yup. _Exactly _like a baby brother. A very annoying one. She pushed his head off of her shoulder. "Stop looking at my cards. And your hat's on the ground," she said grumpily, tossing her cards into the pot. She narrowed her eyes at her CO, who took a big swig of his beer and smirked at her.

The game ended shortly afterwards. Sam and Jack were the only ones left with any chips, so everyone else was losing interest rapidly. On a whim, Sam went all in, sure Jack would just fold, but he called her, to her surprise. And she only had an ace and a nine. He had a pair of fours, but he ended up losing, as Sam caught another ace on the river.

While Jack and Teal'c cleared away the poker game, Sam helped Janet up to the guest room, as Janet had turned out to be almost as much of a lightweight as Daniel. Although, as Jack pointed out, it was more understandable in Janet's case, as she was "less than half a Teal'c." Sam wanted to collect her bag and make sure Janet wasn't too loud and didn't wake Cassie up.

Using the light from the bathroom, she gave Janet her pajamas, realizing that between that and the shirt Cassie was currently sleeping in, she had nothing left for herself. Oh well, Janet wouldn't be comfortable borrowing from one of the guys, and Sam didn't have a problem with it.

While Janet got ready for bed in the bathroom, Sam checked on the kitten, which was sound asleep curled up in a tiny ball, in a laundry basket with a green blanket at the bottom of it.

"Interesting gift from the Colonel," Janet commented innocently as she re-entered the room.

Sam busied herself re-packing her small, near-empty bag and said, "How so?"

"I don't know, just seemed a little... personal."

"He gave Cassie a dog. He just likes to give people animals," she said defensively.

"Riiight. Okay, Sam."

"Janet, go to sleep."

"All right. Enjoy the rest of your evening," Janet called innocently as Sam headed out the door.


	5. Main Event

A/N: I was re-reading this story to check a couple of facts for Birthday Traditions 4 and realized that I posted this chapter with about a minute's worth of missing dialogue at the beginning, and it subsequently doesn't make a whole lot of sense! Here's the corrected version.

Ch 5: The Main Event

Sam carefully closed the door to Jack's guest room, turned around, and bumped right into him.

"Sorry, sir," she said quickly, the nervousness that had abated over the past few hours returning instantly, even stronger than before. The party was now effectively over, so...

"Where are Teal'c and Daniel?" she asked.

"Daniel's on the pull-out sofa in the den. He was snoring before Teal'c took off his glasses. Teal'c's staying in there too, to do his kel-no..."

"Reem," Sam supplied.

"Right. Hey, you didn't drink all that much tonight," he commented as they headed back to the living room.

"So I wouldn't have any trouble beating you at poker, sir," she replied lightly.

He scowled and said, "Beginner's luck."

"Beginner? I'll have you know I was a base brat, sir, I've been playing poker since I was born!"

"That may be true, but I was supplementing my income with weekly poker winnings while you, Captain Carter, were still in diapers."

Grinning back at him, she said innocently, "Oh, now I feel guilty, taking advantage of the elderly..."

Hey, it was her birthday. If he was going to tease her, she was going to tease back. She had surprised him, she could tell. "Elderly!" he said indignantly. "Well, putting aside the fact that I'm your Commanding Officer, don't you have any respect for your elders?"

"Not on my birthday," she said with another grin, taking the tiara out of her hair.

"Ah. Well, in that case, maybe I'll make _you _sleep on the couch tonight while _I _sleep in my nice, soft, warm, roomy bed."

"You wouldn't do that to me on my birthday," she said confidently.

"Hmm. Yeah, maybe not," he admitted.

An awkward silence fell as they realized how close together they were standing, and how _some _people (neither one of them, of course) might possibly consider what they were doing _flirting. _

Jack cleared his throat and started clearing away empty bottles and things. Sam moved automatically to help him. "It's your _birthday," _he said pointedly.

"Right. So I can do whatever I want," she said with a smile, grabbing the empty bowl that had held potato chips.

"All right, all right. I think that tiara's going to your head," he grumbled as they took their stuff into the kitchen.

"Bad pun, sir," she said, wincing.

"Thanks. Maybe next year we'll make Daniel wear the tiara." She laughed out loud at the mental image that created. "Well, Miss I-can-do-whatever-I-want, should you happen to want to go up on my roof again, I cleared a path to the door upstairs so you don't have to climb the ladder."

"You did?" she asked, unable to mask her surprise.

"Well, I figured there'd be a line a mile long of people wanting to beat the crap out of me if you fell off my roof, drunk, on your birthday."

"Right," she agreed sarcastically. Why was he always so worried about looking thoughtful? Actually, it wasn't even really that, was it? she mused. With him, actions certainly spoke louder than words, and he didn't seem to have a real problem showing thoughtfulness occasionally, he just had trouble when someone tried to acknowledge it or thank him for it.

"Carter? We don't have to go up to the roof, I just thought... just in case."

Good grief, was it possible he was nervous about continuing their little 'tradition' as well? He had been so calm and cool all night, regarding her casually, same as always, looking far too comfortable - so comfortable and confident that it made her nervous. As if she hadn't been already. She'd relaxed in the group dynamic, but now, she was just as nervous as she'd been standing in the middle of her closet wrapped up in a towel.

"Carter? You okay?"

"Yes, sir," she answered automatically, making a mental note to try not to let her mind wander so much when he was around. Especially when no one _else _was around. A distraction would be good right about now. "Yes, let's go up on your roof," she said decisively.

Okay, Sam said to herself. Maybe returning to the scene of the proverbial crime wasn't the _best _way to get her mind off of last year's birthday party finale, but it had seemed like a good idea at the time. Getting coats, preparing a thermos of hot chocolate (because it was too late for coffee and she insisted firmly she'd rather die than drink decaf,) and climbing up the narrow trap-door stairs to the roof had provided a distraction for a while. And for a little while, so had the telescope they took turns looking through.

Much more quickly than she was comfortable with, however, Sam was less and less aware of star configurations and more and more aware of how maddeningly close her CO was standing to her. Of course, sharing the telescope leant itself to standing close, and it _was _helping her stay warm. And he wasn't doing _anything. _He stood behind her while she looked through the eyepiece, so close to her she was actually trying to determine the tiny fraction of a distance which was left between them, but he didn't touch her at all.

She spent so long trying to get the part of her that wanted to run back inside to come to a compromise with the part of her that just wanted to lean back the teeniest, tiniest bit that she actually jumped when he finally demanded that it was his turn with the telescope.

"Sorry," she said quickly, stepping aside.

He brushed past her, either accidentally or convincingly passing for it, she wasn't sure, and took her place. He squinched one eye shut, peered through the scope, and said, "So what are we looking at now?"

When she failed to answer promptly, he turned to look at her and asked, "Carter?"

"Sorry, sir. I... honestly don't remember," she admitted.

He stood up slowly, studied her, studied the ground, studied her again, and looked down again. "Carter, I'm sorry," he finally said.

"About what?" she asked in surprise.

"You _know _what," he said gently. "If you're this uncomfortable, we don't have to... I mean I'm not going to hold you to the 'tradition' if you don't want to."

She knew her mouth was hanging open in surprise, but couldn't seem to bring herself to close it. Finally, she swallowed and said, "I wasn't... planning on trying to... get out of the tradition, sir. But if _you _want to..." she added hastily.

"No, no, that's okay," he said quickly, waving his hands quickly.

"Ah, all right then."

"Okay."

They looked at each other awkwardly again, or rather, Sam looked at Jack awkwardly while Jack studied the ground, then she looked down quickly as he looked up suddenly.

"This is a little... weird," she admitted finally.

"It wasn't last year," he said, clearly as frustrated with the situation as she was.

"Last year we were drunk," Sam stated bluntly. "And we weren't expecting anything," she added. "At least, _I _wasn't."

"Hey, I wasn't either! And this whole once a year thing was _your _idea," he reminded her.

"You seemed pretty happy with the arrangement," she said defensively.

"I was!" he insisted. "I mean... I am. I just didn't think I'd... I'm too old for this kind of..."

"I'm nervous too," Sam whispered.

He smiled suddenly, a genuinely affectionate smile, and closed the gap between them, suddenly not looking nervous anymore. He wrapped his arms around her, one around her waist, one around her shoulders, exactly as he'd done when she had freaked out during her little hypnosis ceremony when Daniel had been "dead."

This time, however, she wasn't sobbing uncontrollably. She was watching him with impossibly huge eyes.

As he leaned in to kiss her, she tilted her head the same direction he did. Their noses bumped awkwardly. They both laughed, embarrassed, and each tried to fix the problem by tilting their head the opposite way. It was like running into someone in the hall and doing the whole awkward after-you-no-please-I-insist dance, only this was exponentially more awkward. And annoying.

Sliding his hand to the back of her head, he kept her in one place long enough to finally catch her lips. The second their lips touched, Sam thought insanely that they had picked up exactly where they left off a year ago. The same impossibly intense sparks were shooting through her and she completely melted when he finally ran his tongue along her bottom lip.

Something in her brain finally clicked and she was able to do more than stand there like a melting Popsicle. So, she did what any good scientist would do, and thoroughly investigated her CO's mouth from every angle.

When the kiss finally ended, she started to pull away but he hugged her tightly again, pressing his face into her neck and swaying slightly. It was sort of strange - they were calming down and collecting their thoughts but the contact was still electric. And the longer they stood there, the more bittersweet it got as well.

Still, she knew for a fact no matter how much she enjoyed kissing Jack O'Neill, he was still her CO. There was no way they could do anything about this - whatever, exactly, this was - at the moment. Or probably for a very long time. Which was why the "compromise" they'd come to concerning their now-official tradition, while not ideal, was the best thing she could think of for the time being.

"Promise it won't be like this next year." His voice was muffled as he was speaking directly into her neck, but she knew she'd heard him correctly.

"I don't know, I didn't think it was so bad," she said lightly after swallowing hard.

He laughed hard against her and straightened up to look at her with a fond smile. "I was _talking _about all the awkward and nervous stuff between us all night."

"I know," she said with a smile. He groaned and rolled his eyes. "I don't think I will be," she said confidently after several moments of contemplation.

She believed it too. Before, when it had been a one-time, isolated incident, she'd been unable to push all the doubt and nagging questions out of her head. Now, though... she thought the only problem she'd have would be waiting patiently for the same time next year.

"We'd better go in. It's really late. Or early," Jack finally said, releasing her and taking half a step back. She glanced at her own watch and gasped in shock. The sun would be coming up soon - she had completely lost track of time, which, to a woman who intuitively always knew what time it was no matter what planet they were on, was a big deal.

He didn't let go of her hand when he released her, and she followed him inside, suddenly remembering that he planned on her sleeping in his bed tonight. She followed him into his bedroom and he flicked the only lamp in the room on. "Um, clean sheets," he said, nodding at the bed. "And... bathroom." He pointed at the open doorway unnecessarily and went over to his closet. He emerged with a blanket and a pair of sweat pants. Setting the blanket down, he took the sweat pants into the bathroom.

She heard him getting ready for bed, which he did quickly. When he emerged, he was wearing the sweat pants, his undershirt, and smelt of toothpaste.

"Umm, do you have something I could sleep in?" she asked in what she hoped was a casual-sounding voice, biting her lip in an effort not to sound and/or look like she had grown shy all of a sudden. "I gave my stuff to Jan and Cassie, since they didn't come prepared," she explained.

"Oh. Yeah. Sure." He went over to his dresser, pulled open a drawer that was almost stuck shut due to how stuffed it was, and pulled out a large, soft, old, and perfectly worn gray Air Force Academy tee-shirt. "Umm, I can give you some shorts or something but I don't think they'll stay on you very well."

"That's okay, um, I don't need... anything else." She blushed a little as she took the shirt. "Thank you."

"No problem," he said, a bit more loudly and exuberantly than necessary. "So um, I'll be on the couch in the living room if you need anything... I'll try to keep Cass and everyone away from you in the morning. And Quarks," he added with a quick grin.

She smiled back. "Thank you so much for her again, Colonel, she's so... it was the perfect gift," she said sincerely.

"Aw, crap, then what am I supposed to get you next year?" he asked dramatically, leaning against the door frame on his way out.

"Sam?"

"Yes?"

He smiled. She hadn't said 'yes, sir.' Of course, she hadn't addressed him by his name either, but still. "Happy Birthday," he said sincerely, a twinkle in his eye.

She returned the smile, also unknowingly returning the twinkle as well. After he had gone back out to the living room, she quickly changed into the tee-shirt, which reached mid-thigh and was even more comfy than it looked, and got ready for bed. As she drifted off to sleep, it occurred to her she was in her CO's bed, on his pillow, in his clothes.

Okay, so she was _alone, _but still.

Somehow she had a feeling General Hammond probably wouldn't be too pleased with either of them if he knew about this, despite the fact that the house was currently hosting not only Sam and Jack, but three other adults, a child, and a cat. Her dad would be even less thrilled than General Hammond. For some reason, she didn't care at all at the moment. She snuggled deeper into the covers, took a deep, slow breath, and smiled into her pillow as she fell asleep.


	6. Oops

A/N: Final installment for Year 2. Year 3 is in production, but I've got a pretty busy week ahead of me (catching the flu makes you horribly behind with the rest of your life!) It will probably start appearing about a week from now, I would guess. This is the first time I've ever actuallydone a sequel to anything, although I've thought about it for most of my stories. I'm excited about theidea of this one becoming a series.Thanks for all the great reviews! Gateseeker2: that conversation is scheduled to happen in Year 4. Now that I know you're looking forward to it, I'll try extra hard to do it justice!

Ch 6: Oops

Sam groaned as she was pulled out of a fantastic dream. It took a second to remember why she was in her CO's bed. Another moment, and she realized what woke her: someone was knocking on the front door. She heard the shower going and got up reluctantly, yawning as she stumbled down the hall to the front door. She opened the door, wincing at the bright light that filtered in from outside.

"Oh, I am so sorry!" the woman standing there exclaimed loudly. Groaning, Sam realized it was must be pretty late if the sun was already so bright as to be personally attacking her through her closed eyelids.

Sam forced her eyes open, leaning against the doorframe and suppressing another yawn. Her sleepy brain took several long seconds to identify the woman standing in front of her.

"I'm sorry, I should have called but I've been leaving messages all week and Jack hasn't returned my calls and I do need to talk to him - obviously I woke you up, I'm sorry - it's eleven o'clock, I assumed... and Jack's truck is the only one here..." The woman who wouldn't stop talking was Sara, Jack's ex-wife.

Eleven o'clock? Damn. And Daniel must have taken her car back to the base or something.

She realized she probably didn't look that great after rolling out of bed, but come on. From the way Sara was looking at her...

Sam suddenly remembered she was wearing what was very obviously Jack's shirt. And her underwear, and nothing else. And it finally occurred to her why Sara O'Neill was giving her _that _look.

"Oh!" she said suddenly. "I'm sorry. I just woke up, I'm... still waking up actually... I haven't had coffee," she explained, smiling and stepping aside to let the woman in. "I think the Colonel is in the shower," she supplied as she shut the front door.

She winced as she realized how thatprobably sounded as well. "You ah, probably don't remember me, we met briefly last year..."

"Captain Carter, right? Of course I remember you," she said warmly. The smile was friendly enough, but Sam was awake enough now to notice how carefully Sara was scrutinizing her appearance.

"Oh. Okay. And, ah, Sam."

"I'm sorry?"

"Sam, just call me... Sam. Please. Er, I guess, do you want to... sit down?"

"Okay."

They sat down on opposite ends of the couch. Sam didn't know what to do - should she go get dressed, leaving the woman to probably conclude she was going to inform Colonel O'Neill that she was here while he was _in _the shower? Or stay and try to explain? She settled on the latter, pulling the blanket thrown over the back of the couch over her legs and smiling nervously at Sara, who was still regarding her curiously. This must be the blanket the Colonel used last night, she thought absently. Smells just like him. Shaking her head clear, she turned her attention back to Sara.

Sam had no idea what to say to the woman; she didn't know anything Jack's relationship to his ex-wife, she didn't know how Sara felt about the military and its rules... "I think maybe you got the wrong idea just now, Mrs. O..."

"Sara," she interrupted, smiling warmly.

"Er... Sara. Thanks. See, today's my birthday..."

"Oh, Happy Birthday!" she said sincerely.

"Thanks. Anyway, Daniel Jackson, I don't know if you..."

"Yes, I know Daniel. Not well or anything, but I know who he is."

"Right. Of course. Well, he and I have the same birthday, so Colonel O'Neill's sort of made it into a big celebration and a bunch of people ended up crashing here last night," Sam explained.

"I see," Sara said, looking around casually.

Yeah, Sam had noticed there was nobody else around too. "Um..."

She started to explain further when a loud, gravelly, grumpy voice barked, "Carter! Your damn cat gets into trouble almost as fast as you do!" Sara was momentarily forgotten and Sam couldn't help but laugh loudly as she looked at her CO, who had just entered the living room.

He had obviously been halfway through shaving, as half his face was smooth and the other half was covered in shaving cream. His damp hair was sticking out at even crazier angles than usual. He was barefoot, in jeans and an undershirt.

And clinging to his chest, limbs splayed and dug into his skin, was Quarks, who was wet, covered with shaving cream, and clearly not happy about it at all.

"What did you do to my poor cat?" she demanded, hurrying over to rescue the tiny mewling thing. Sam tried to pull her off Jack's chest but she just dug in deeper with her tiny yet still very sharp claws.

Jack swore loudly, swatting her hands away. "Don't you think I tried that?" he demanded.

"Well, I don't know! How did she get all wet and covered in shaving cream?"

"She's a pain in the ass, that's how! Jumped up on the counter to 'investigate' what I was doing and fell right in the sink, vaulted up in the air and latched onto me like she's Garfield and I'm the back window of a minivan! Now PLEASE GET HER OFF!"

"I just tried to and you told me to stop!" Sam objected, not knowing what he wanted her to do.

"Well, think of something else, you're the genius around here!"

"I... okay, if we just take off your shirt, she'll probably come with it," Sam proposed reasonably, tugging his shirt unceremoniously over his head, being sure to hold the kitten through the fabric of the shirt to keep her from falling and keep herself from being scratched.

She started trying to clean up the kitten with the now inside-out shirt, just now noticing there was a lot of laughter coming from Sara.

"Whoa!" Jack exclaimed, jumping slightly as he saw her. "Sara. Hi. What are you doing here?"

"I've been calling you all week and finally decided to just drop by."

"Ah, okay. God, I'm bleeding!" he wailed suddenly, pointing to his chest dramatically. "Sam! Look at what your satanic cat did to me!" he accused, looking down at his chest, which was covered with tiny, oozing claw marks.

Sam snorted. "I think you've survived worse," she pointed out. "And you seem to have forgotten that this cat was _your _idea, _your _gift and _you _picked her out. AND she's adorable and she is NOT satanic!"

"That's what she wants you to think!" he insisted. "She's lulling you into a false sense of security. Come on, put her down and help me, I'm going to get..." he fumbled around for some horrible disease he could contract from the tiny kitten and proclaimed, "CAT SCRATCH FEVER!"

"Does that even really exist?" Sam asked skeptically.

"Yes, it does actually," Daniel said as he entered the room cleaning his glasses on the tail of his shirt. "Thanks a lot, by the way, guys. I _love _waking up hearing you yell at each other. Really. It's always a treat. Is there coffee?"

Daniel and Jack both looked at Sam expectantly. "Why are you both looking at ME? It's HIS kitchen, HIS coffee!" she objected, pointing at Jack. "And does it LOOK like I've had coffee?"

"No," they both said together.

She glared at them.

"Well, you did ask," Daniel offered meekly. "I'll go make some for everyone... Sara! What... what are you doing here?"

"Hi, Daniel, why don't you and I go make some coffee while Jack and Sam... get their situation under control?" she suggested.

"Daniel, take the demon spawn with you!" Jack said firmly, taking the cat and his shirt from Sam and shoving the whole bundle into Daniel's confused arms.

"I'll try to explain," Sara said to him quietly as they headed to the kitchen.

"If you hate cats so much why did you give me one?" Sam demanded as soon as they were alone.

"First of all, because it's YOUR birthday and the cat was for YOU, not ME. Second of all, I don't HATE them, I just don't like them attacking me while I shave," he said defensively.

Sam sighed and headed towards his bathroom. He followed. "Uh, sir, where's my car?"

"Teal'c wanted to get back to base and you and Daniel were both dead to the world, so I told him to go ahead."

"Oh. Okay."

"And Cass and the Doc left for her swim practice before I was even up," he added, sitting down on the counter next to the sink as she rummaged around underneath it for his little collection of first-aid stuff.

Not that he really needs it, she thought with a scowl. Just a couple of little scratches... the man could get shot by a staff weapon and insist he just needed to 'walk it off,' but sic a half-pound kitten on him and he was acting like he was in danger of dropping dead at any moment.

She stood up and said, "Too bad Janet's already gone, she's better at this stuff."

"I don't know, it's kind of a trade-off," he commented, wincing and grabbing her shoulder involuntarily as she pressed an alcohol-soaked cotton ball to one of the scratches.

"What do you mean, a trade-off?" she asked, suddenly needing a distraction as she realized she was standing between his legs doctoring his bare chest.

"Well, the Doc has better painkillers, so she ah, doesn't hurt so much. Or she's just a helluva lot more gentle than you are as I remember from our little Arctic adventure."

"ANTarctic," she corrected automatically, giving the deepest scratch an extra-slow cleaning, not even bothering to pretend to feel sorry when he hissed as the alcohol stung the wound.

He groaned and kept talking. "Well, anyway, she's faster, but you're a lot more sympathetic during the recovery process."

"When you're actually injured, maybe," she said. "I wouldn't be expecting much sympathy for these teeny scratches though."

"Hm. That's not nice. Hey," he suddenly said, as if he just had a revelation. "You're not wearing any pants!" he declared with a huge grin.

Now blushing profusely, she kept her gaze firmly on the scratches she was 'treating,' not willing to look up and catch his eye. She rubbed some cream onto the scratches and mumbled, "Yeah, apparently I'm having trouble remembering that today."

"Hey, I wasn't complaining," he said with a rueful grin. "Just making an observation," he commented innocently.

"Yeah, well, so did Sara," Sam answered. "I'm sorry, sir..." she glanced up at him apologetically. "I woke up, someone was knocking, you were in the shower, I was still half-asleep. I wasn't thinking, I went to the door like this. I think I gave your wife the wrong idea..."

"EX-wife, Carter," he said firmly.

"Right. Well, I was trying to explain about the party when you came in with Quarks stuck to you... I'm sorry she did this to you sir."

"Oh, I'll live," he said dramatically. "She's a little too small and cute to stay mad at. And don't worry about Sara, I'm sure our little diplomat is explaining everything."

"Good point," Sam agreed with a quiet laugh, gathering up the remaining supplies and putting them away. "There you go, sir, good as new," she said quietly, looking around the tiny room for something else to focus her attention on.

"Hey," her CO said suddenly, nudging her with his leg. "Happy real birthday."

"Thank you," she said with a smile. "Although technically you've already told me that once today, since we did go to bed much later than midnight."

"Yes, we did," he said with a self-satisfied grin. She blushed slightly. "Did you sleep well?" he asked with another grin.

"Yes... thank you."

"No problem," he assured her.

"Were you okay? On the couch?"

"Oh yeah, you spend enough nights on the ground on some planet halfway across the galaxy, the couch is a big step up."

"Good. Um, well, I better... go get dressed."

"Okay. I'll go see what Sara wants to talk about, then you, Danny and I can go to your place, get Quarks settled in, and I'll take you up to the base for your car. We can all have lunch with Teal'c."

"Sounds good."

"All right." He hopped off the counter and brushed past her, pausing in the doorway. "Hey, Sam?" he asked quietly.

"What?"

"Keep the shirt, okay? It looks a lot better on you anyway."

She blushed and looked down. "Thank you," she said, more than a little embarrassed, as she had to admit to herself that she had given some thought to the fact that this was the perfect sleep-shirt shortly after she had first put it on. But her plan to figure out a way to smuggle it out of the house with her had been a joke. Mostly.

An hour later, she, Jack and Daniel piled all of Quarks's things into Jack's truck and headed towards her house.

"What did Sara want?" Sam asked absently, trying to soothe the kitten, who didn't seem to like riding in the car very much.

"She wanted to let me know she's moving. In case I need to get in touch with her."

"Oh, really? Where's she moving?"

"Phoenix. She's getting married again."

"Oh," Sam said quietly, not sure what she was supposed to say to that. She looked to Daniel for help. He was smiling at her, glad for once she was the one digging herself into a hole. Narrowing her eyes at him, she turned back to Jack and said, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

"Oh, don't be ridiculous, Carter, it's not in your repertoire," he said casually.

"Sara liked you, Sam," Daniel commented innocently.

"Daniel," Jack said in the 'careful now' voice.

"What?" he asked innocently. "She said you were very pretty but ah, thought Jack might be a little too old for you."

Jack reached around her and punched him lightly on the arm while Daniel laughed quietly against the door.

"Ah, you _did _tell her we aren't..." Sam asked nervously.

"Yeah, yeah," Daniel assured her, waving his hand absently. "I mean, not that you can blame her for assuming... I mean, after the show you guys put on this morning, Sam running to the door in her underpants in the middle of the day, all confused, Jack showing up fresh out of the shower, half-shaved... you can't really blame her..."

"SHUT UP, DANIEL," they both said in a sing-song voice.

"Right," he mumbled.

Sam sighed and hugged her new kitten to her, looking back and forth between the two men on either side of her on the truck's bench seat. At a red light, Jack looked over at her as she was doing the same.

He locked eyes with her, smiling easily. She watched his eyes flicker down to her mouth, darken, and travel back up to meet hers slowly again.

A loud horn blast from the car behind them made them both jump.

"Ohfercryinoutloud," Jack mumbled, realizing he'd had a green light for who knew how long.

Sam stared resolutely straight ahead as they continued towards her house. She knew she was blushing profusely. She also knew to her right, Daniel would be giving her his biggest grin, and to her left, her CO's knuckles on the wheel would be turning white, and the clenched muscle in his jaw would be twitching.

Oh yeah. It was going to be one looooong year.

-

The end.

A/N: Want to keep going: Birthday Traditions 3 is next, Story ID: 2257174


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